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Musings about the virtual and the real world

one year

My friend Orea over at his blog realized that we have been in the same wormhole corporation now for one year and reflects on the good and bad times we had. Its a great review of what happened and I recommend the read. Its also one of the very times I can’t find anything he says where I vehemently disagree so he is clearly coming around 😉

So, just over one year ago, I found myself getting ready to leave the game for good. I had enjoyed the mission running and mining aspect of it. But then the wardecs came and my corp actively discouraged fighting back or setting up any organized response. We kept losing haulers, mission runners and miners by the dozens and while the wiser remained offline, hid in stations or played alts, those of us with nothing else to do set up mini bases in far away and tried to come to grips with the newly rolled out PI system. But locator agents meant that even there we were prey and the the feeling of being helpless was getting old – this is not what I paid subscription for. I was close to quitting the game altogether but I had read up on wormhole space and what it offers.

Oreamnos sorted us out with interviews for Wormhole Corporations. One was a military style outfit that seemed to be trying very hard to eliminate fun out of the game. The other was a laid-back but behind-the-scenes very well run industrial corp. Only later I made the connection between Jade’s podcast and this corp, Z3R0 Return Mining.

That interview was longer and more detailed than some I had for real jobs. I asked what they would do if they got wardecced – and the response from the recruiter was “we go and kill them”. Bravado? Sure. But I needed to hear the attitude at that point. Getting killed in EVE is not that bad. Getting slaughtered like sheep is bad.

The move-in day came and the intensity of the operation blew me away. There were spotters everywhere, even a little bit of a brawl in low sec and the convoy of newbs got trough perfectly. It was not military-style command structure but people knew what to do and executed out of their own motivation. This always makes the difference between a functional and a great team and I loved it already. Also I gained respect for the sleepers pretty quickly when I flew in my Myrmidon into a sleeper site – with a team – and received more damage than it could hold. This was a C2? There are 4 more classes?

And I loved exploring, loved the stealthy aspect of it, the intel gathering and the subsequent raids of neighbor holes for riches that I could have never foreseen. I did not see the massive organization that went into running a wormhole corporation, all I saw was a constant ISK stream into my wallet for doing what I loved doing, flying with friends and experiencing content and camaraderie.

Our corp took a bit of well-document nose-dive and we pulled ourselves out. Orea writes about it better than I could and we moved on into the C4, setting that up was a massive undertaking which I mostly missed because I stayed behind and transferred our C4 to its new owners. After fattening my wallet and helping to recruit for that hole, we decided to change tack a little and open a Wormhole Academy – the first of its kind as Keldoom kindly acknowledged. It is going well, we survived theft, heatwaves and power outages and our first batch of recruits has moved into the C4.

Where to next? Other games? None that interest me. Other corporations? Nullsec? No thank you, having to get up at 2am to pound on some structure for hours and then get blapped away because my name starts with “E” is not my idea of fun.

I got used to an environment where the individual matters and there is one aspect that really intrigues me – Mercenary. So, I think, once I am done with this academy, I will put an application in with Noir Academy. PvP with a purpose, hard-hitting and small teams, people who pride themselves to be excellent in what they do, thats what this game is all about and I am really looking forward to that – but I will miss my team. When will I move? I do not know.

Congrats on the past year. I’ve often dreamed of creating something really special like a training corp or something bigger and badder than what I have now. Then I realize that I have a wife and 5 kids, lol. I do plan to create something awesome like you guys did, I just hope Eve survives another ten years at least so I’ll have the opportunity to realize that ambition. What have I learned in my Eve career thus far? Wife aggro = dead ships. So I’d better put the “big” plans on hold a while.

Thanks for your comment and congratulations. Starting, planning, operating and running this academy has been a ton of work for the team. This is not something a single person can do unless he is manic, unemployed or retired. With family and kids, I don’t think you could or should pull it off and I actually congratulate you to put your plans on hold while you take care of your family.

But my offer stands, come, fly with us in the C2. Enjoy the WH life, build the academy, your skills, network and experience and when you are ready, move to our C4 or C5 both are recruiting – or start your own hole with our support inside our Alliance.